OpCapita acquires GAME for £1

Amy King
02 April 2012

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OpCapita has acquired GAME Groupтs UK business for a nominal ТЃ1. The turnaround investor has acquired the firmтs 333 remaining stores, and paid a reported ТЃ50m for the company's ТЃ85m debt, but has not bought any of GAMEтs overseas assets.

OpCapita made an initial offer to acquire the group in early March, which was rejected.

The acquisition, completed through the newco Baker Acquisitions Limited, will safeguard 3,200 jobs and takes the company out of administration, currently managed by PwC. Several of the 2,104 GAME employees issued redundancy letters last week will be re-employed as part of the agreement. No further store closures are expected.

Commenting on the acquisition, Henry Jackson, managing partner of OpCapita said, "We strongly believe there is a place on the high street for a video gaming specialist and GAME is the leading brand in a £2.8 billion market in the UK."

Company
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Basingstoke, The GAME Group is a British video games retailer. The firm has grown internationally through acquisitions, including Gamewizards in Australia and Gamestation in the UK for £74m.

The company made an estimated loss of £18m in the year ending 31st January 2012, and main suppliers refused to provide products.

The firm went into administration in March 2012 when it proved unable to repay its £85m debts in rent, wages and to creditors including RBS, Barclays and HSBC. PwC, Game's administrators, closed 277 stores and made 2,104 members of staff redundant in a bid to stem further losses.

People
David Hamid, former Halfords chief executive and now a partner at OpCapita, has been appointed chairman of GAME. Henry Jackson is managing partner of OpCapita. Mike Jervis is a partner at PwC and an administrator of GAME.